Great Illustrated Books

At Gleason's Gym

Follow nine-year-old boxing champ Sugar Boy Younan as he spends a Saturday in Brooklyn training with other athletes—kids and adults, male and female—in "the most famous boxing gym in the world." Combining a poetic descriptive text, gritty, realistic watercolors, and shaded pencil sketches, this evocative picture book envelops the reader in a you-are-there experience of the sweat, excitement, noise, intense concentration, and fun of sparring in the ring. Lewin was himself a professional wrestler as a teen; his admiration and respect for the "music of the gym" captures and humanizes an unfamiliar world. Your listeners can compare how they've trained and sweated for their favorite sports.

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Critics have said

This book is as much about feelings as it is about action. Although words like friendship, determination, devotion, and love aren't stamped across the pages, they are still there. Ilene Cooper, Booklist

You can practically smell the sweat and- thanks to the sound effects artfully graffiti'd on various pages- hear the thump, thump of the heavy bags, the ratatatatatat of the speed bags and the buzz of the buzzer starting the round.Book World

The naturalistically painted images are more effective than photographs in conveying information while evoking emotion.Children

ATHLETES. MULTICULTURAL BOOKS. SPORTS.

At Gleason's Gym

By Ted Lewin

{tag_sub title}Pages : 40 Suggested Ages: 5-10 ISBN-13: {tag_isbn-13}

Follow nine-year-old boxing champ Sugar Boy Younan as he spends a Saturday in Brooklyn training with other athletes—kids and adults, male and female—in "the most famous boxing gym in the world." Combining a poetic descriptive text, gritty, realistic watercolors, and shaded pencil sketches, this evocative picture book envelops the reader in a you-are-there experience of the sweat, excitement, noise, intense concentration, and fun of sparring in the ring. Lewin was himself a professional wrestler as a teen; his admiration and respect for the "music of the gym" captures and humanizes an unfamiliar world. Your listeners can compare how they've trained and sweated for their favorite sports.

Get this book

Critics have said

This book is as much about feelings as it is about action. Although words like friendship, determination, devotion, and love aren't stamped across the pages, they are still there. Ilene Cooper, Booklist

You can practically smell the sweat and- thanks to the sound effects artfully graffiti'd on various pages- hear the thump, thump of the heavy bags, the ratatatatatat of the speed bags and the buzz of the buzzer starting the round.Book World